Free
The Montgomery bus boycott made King famous. He became very busy.
He helped form a new organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). It was dedicated to working for civil rights, and he became its leader. He also wrote a book about the boycott. While he was signing copies of it in a New York City bookstore, a mentally ill woman stabbed him in the chest with a letter opener. His doctor told him that if he had sneezed, he could have died. The attack helped King understand that he faced enemies and maybe even death.
While King was in the hospital, he received many letters. Here’s one he would never forget:
SIT-INS
▲ In 1960, four Black students sat at a Whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and asked for coffee and doughnuts. They were told to leave, but they stayed until closing. The next day, they came back with more students. Soon, Black and White students all over the South were taking part in sit-ins. People yelled at them, and some even dumped drinks or food on them. But the students had been trained in nonviolent resistance and knew not to fight back. In Atlanta, King joined the sit-ins and was arrested again.
“The children understood the stakes they were fighting for.”
FREEDOM RIDERS
▲ The Supreme Court had ruled that Black and White people could share the same facilities at bus terminals, but in the South, that law was ignored. In 1961, a group of young people who became known as the Freedom Riders decided to test the law. Blacks and White people boarded buses in Washington, D.C. As they traveled into the South, they were beaten. One bus was bombed. In Montgomery, the Riders spent a scary night in Ralph Abernathy’s church as White people rioted outside. King spent the night with them. Above, National Guardsmen are pictured protecting Freedom Riders.
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA
◀ In 1963, Birmingham was one of the most segregated cities in the U.S. King chose it for an important campaign. A terrible price was paid in human life, but in the end, the campaign was a success. In 1964, President Johnson signed into law a Civil Rights Bill. It made segregation illegal throughout the U.S. Here, King is seen addressing a rally at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, the campaign’s headquarters.
Black people marched peacefully in Birmingham to protest segregation. They were arrested again and again. On Good Friday, April 12, 1963, King and Abernathy were arrested. King was put into solitary confinement, where he could not even make a phone call. ▶
◀ On September 15, 1963, Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Sunday School was bombed. Four children were killed. Another 20 children were injured, including Sarah Jean Collins (pictured), who was struck in the eyes by flying glass. Her sister was one of the children who died. After the bombing, rioting broke out. Two Black people were killed, and many Black and White people were injured.
▲ Birmingham’s police commissioner, Eugene “Bull” Connor, lost patience with the demonstrators. Policemen and firemen turned high-powered hoses on the marchers. They also set police dogs on them. Newspapers published pictures of the violence, and people around the world were sickened. On a Sunday afternoon, Connor told his men to hose down a group of Black people who were kneeling in prayer. The police officers and firefighters refused. The Black people stood up and bravely continued their march. All Connor could do was watch.
“Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!”
